Governor for tractor engines



3 w. E. SWENSON 2,090,161

7 GOVERNOR FOR TRACTOR ENGINES Filed Feb. 11, 1956 v 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 INVENTOR. WILL/17M f. SI/[NSO/V 1 Aug. 17, 1937. w. E. SWENSON GOVERNOR FOR TRACTOR ENGINES 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 u 9. w |L Wx I I I I a a I\ 4 q. 4 s a s a a a w 1 u 4 a v 5 8 S 1 4 N W M H M 5 VA.

5 z 1 7 z X 3 0 w a u M Z E m 8 V N T 3 F. T /II A l 5 u. In 5 a m 4 0 a a a a M M Q m 3 Y 5 H 4 B 44 l 8 4 H 4 I M 7 I I I. a 1n n a 4 a my a. m U n w I. b 4 3 h u 4 s w h a h P. T 6 8 Patented Aug. 17, 1937 UNITED STATES ATNT OFFICE GOVERNOR FOR TRACTOR. ENGINES Delaware Application February 11, 1936, Serial No. 63,470

'7 Claims.

This invention relates to governors for motor propelled vehicles, particularly power tractors, and the primary object is to provide a novel, efficient and practical design of governor that will operate to control the fuel supply to the engine in such a manner as to maintain a uniform travel speed of the tractor (or other vehicle) according to predetermined manual adjustment, and irrespective of variations in travel resistance 10 such as is frequently occasioned by movements up and down hills, and by implements or other vehicles attached to or propelled by the tractor. More specifically the invention contemplates an improved design of governor'which -is incorpo- 35 rated in and with the motor in such a manner as to be positively driven by the cam shaft or other power driven element, and is connected r with the fuel control valve of the carbureter to increase or decrease the fuel supply to the combustion chambers as the power driven element is retarded or accelerated under the variable influences of the aforementioned resistances. It may be noted that while the governor is adapted for use in connection with various types of vehicles and power plants it is here primarily designed for use in the engine of a tractor such as disclosed I in my copending application Ser. No. 62,849, filed February 7th, 1936, for Power plant.

In the accompanying drawings, which illustrate a preferred embodiment of the invention:

Fig. l is a side elevation of aportion of a power plant showing my improved governor as incorporated therein and connected with the fuel control valve of a conventional design of carbureter.

Fig. 2 is a sectional elevation diametrically through the governor, but with some parts in full, this view being substantially on line 2--2 in Fig. 1.

Fig. 3 is an enlarged bottomv view of the governor, partly in section, as on line 33 in Fig. 2.

Fig. 4 is an enlarged detail section on line 4--4 in Fig. 2.

Referring to the drawings more particularly 45 and by reference characters, 5 designates the main housing or crank case of the engine, and

upon which is mounted the cylinder blocks 6.

The combustion chambers in the blocks 6 communicate with intake manifold l and exhaust manifold 8. Within one side of the housing 5 is journaled a cam shaft 9, access to which is had through an opening in one side of the housing 5 which is normally closed by a cover 55 plate [0. The parts thus far identified are all more specifically described in my aforementioned application Ser. No. 62,849.

A carbureter, designated generally by numeral H, is attached to the intake manifold 'l, as at l2, and has a butterfly or similar valve I3 for controlling the passage of gas vapor through the manifold 7 to the combustion chambers. The valve l3 has an arm l4 provided with a control rod it which extends down, between the carbureter and engine, for pivoted attachment to a lever l6 of the governor unit. This lever is fulcrumed as at H between two ears l3 of a sleeve extension Ill of the main governor body or casting 26; and has a comparatively short depending arm 2! which is actuated by a spindle rod 22 that pivots thereto and extends into the housing 20 for connection with the governor control mechanism therewithin.

The governor body 20 is inserted, transversely of the engine, through an opening in one side wall of the crank case, and is provided, adjacent the opening, with an integral flange 23 through which extend stud bolts 24 to rigidly secure the governor to the crank case. At its inner end the casting 20 is provided with an integral bearing hub 25 which fits in an aperture in an inner housing partition 26 and serves as a bearing support for a shaft 21.

At one end the shaft 21 has fixed to it a worm pinion 28 which meshes with and is driven by a worm gear 29 on the cam shaft 9, the cam. shaft being in turn driven from the crank or power shaft in any conventional or suitable manner (not shown) At its other end the shaft 21 is secured, as by pin 3i, in one end of an axial opening 32 of a rotor element 33. At diametrically opposite sides the rotor is provided with integral, outwardly projecting lugs 34, which pivotally support, as by pins 35, the governor weights 36. The weights 36 are provided, at respectively opposite sides of the rotor axis, with inwardly extending integral arms 31 (Figs. 3 and 4), which carry substantially aligned bolts 38, one bolt in each weigh arm 31. The bolt shanks are threaded adjacent their heads, to screw into the arms 31, but their inner ends are reduced in size, and unthreaded, for lateral engagement in lateral recesses or holes 39 in a thimble Mlwhich is disposed axially within the rotor opening 32. The holes 39 are a trifle larger than the pin ends of the bolts 38 so as to provide sufficient play or freedom for pin movement, and without binding, as the bolts move on the fulcrum centers 3'5 in differing arcs.

The thimble 49 is provided at one end with an axially aligned recess 4| to partially receive and engage the spherical surface of a hard steel beare ing ball 42. 'Directly opposite'the thimble the ball 42 similarly engages an end recess of an in- 5 ternally threaded tubular spindle member 43. Accidental displacement of the ball 42 from the chamber 32, until complete assemblage has been effected, is prevented by a spring snap ring 44.

The spindle rod 22. is threaded into the spindle member 43, but before being so inserted is provided with a washer 45, which engages endwise against member 43, and a retainer nut 46, which screws on the rod 22. A diaphragm 41 is interposed between the members 45 and 46, and is firmly clamped therebetween and with respect to the members 22 and 43 when members 43 and 46 are screwed toward each other on rod 22. The outer or peripheral portion of the diaphragm is tightly sealed with respect to' the outer end wall of the governor casting 20, by a clamping ring 48 secured by screws 49, which ring also serves to restrain the weights from moving outwardly too far.

Disposed about the rod 22 is a compression 2 spring 50, oneend of which concentrically engages the retainer nut '46 while the other end extends into and abuts against a cylindrical adjuster member 5|, which is slidable and rotatable in the sleeve extension IS. The rod 22 is freely 3 0 movable in a hole 52 in one end of the member 5!.

- 5 accelerator pedal or othetr control member within convenient reach of the operator.

The governor is lubricated by oil under pressure fed from a supply line 56 to a duct 51 in the hub portion 25, which duct traverses the bore for 4,9 the shaft 21. TIhe shaft has a milled groove 58 which extends lengthwise thereof; and as it receives lubricating oil under pressure from the duct 5'! it directs such'oil to both ends of the shaft, and that which escapes into the opening 32 4 5 lubricates the moving parts therewithin and also sufficiently supplies the fulcrums 35 for the governor weights 36. Any excess amount of lubricating oil so delivered will accumulate in the bottom of the casting 20, and will overflow through :50 an outlet 59 from which it will drop back into the --55 desired rate of travel speed, such adjustment being primarily effected by manual control of the rod 55 which operates through the lever arm 53 in'the slot 54 to adjust the member 5! axially within the extension sleeve I 9, which adjustment 6.0 in turn controls the tension of spring 50. It should be noted that the compression force of the spring 50 is not absorbed by the diaphragm 41, but operates through the members 46, 45, and 43 g to exert more or less pressure on the steel ball 42, 65 and this in turn regulates the resistance to the centrifugal force of the weights 36. In other words, as the spring 50 is compressed to increase its tension on the nut 46, the governor weights crank case fumes, and should be tight to the at mosphere so as to prevent the admission of dust or condensation to the working parts.

The use of the steel bearing ball 42 in the present arrangement is of substantial importance in several respects. It may first be noted that it 5 serves as a bearing member between the rotatable thimble and the non-rotatable spindle element 43 with respect to which the thimble rotates. The arrangement not only provides avery eifective bearing engagement between the two mem- 10 bers 46 and 42, but the ball is free to rotate in all directions, with a result that the wear on it'will be very slight, and will be uniformly distributed throughout its entire spherical surface. The ball also serves as a bearing member for the rotor 33 15 with respect to the spindle member 43, as the ball is substantially the same diameter as the diameter of the chamber 32', and therefore has lateral bearing engagement within the rotor; It will also be noted that it is unnecessary to provide any 20 special or additional bearing supports for either the thimble 40 or the spindle 22, 43, because the ball 42 is seated in the end recess 45 of the thimble 46 at one side and against the open end of the spindle sleeve 43 at the opposite side so as 2 to center and axially align the spindle and thimble with respect to each other.

It is understood that suitable modifications may be made in the structure as disclosed, provided such modifications come within the spirit 30 and scope of the appended claims. Having now therefore fully illustrated and described my in-.

' vention, what I claim to be new and desire to a size to project radially beyond the thimble and '45 spindle to establish self -aligning and guiding con: tact with an adjacent portion of the rotor.

2. A governor comprising a frame, a rotor mounted in the frame and having an axial bore, a thimble in but of lesser diameter than the bore '50 so as to be removed from frictional contact with the rotor, weights fulcrumed to the rotor and having arms connected to the thimble, a spindle disposed in alignment with the thimble and alsov removed from frictional contact with the rotor, a v fuel adjuster lever connected to and for operation bythe spindle, a bearing ball disposedaxially in the rotor bore intermediate adjacent ends of said spindle and thimble and having a diameter substantially equal to that of the bore, and a spring urging the spindle into engagement with the bearing ball.

3. A governor comprising a frame, a rotor mounted in the frame and having an axialbore',

a thimble in the bore but out of frictional contact therewith, weights fulcrumed to the rotor and having arms connected to the thimble, a spindle disposed in alignment with the thimble and also out of frictional contact withthe bore, a' fuel adjuster lever connected to the spindle, a bearing ball disposed axially in the rotor bore in-- termediate adjacent ends of said spindle and thimble and having a diameter substantially equalto that of the bore, and a spring urging the spindle into engagement with the bearing ball, the "m ends of the thimble in engagement with the ball being axially recessed so as to be self-centering with respect thereto.

4. In a governor the combination comprising a rotor, centrifugal weights carried by the rotor, a thrust bearing ball disposed in the axis of rotor rotation and maintained in such axial position by annular guiding contact with a part of the rotor, 'a member pivotally connected at one end with the Weights and having an end recess in its other end for self-centering engagement with the bearing ball in a manner to be supported by the weight connection and ball independent of other supporting contact with the rotor, and a spindle in thrust contact with the ball at a position axially opposite from said member.

5. In a governor the combination comprising a rotor, centrifugal weights carried by the rotor, a thrust bearing ball disposed in the axis of rotor rotation and maintained in such axial position by annular guiding contact with a part of the rotor, a member pivotally connected at one end with the weights and having an end recess in its other end for self-centering engagement with the bearing ball in a manner to be supported by the Weight connection and ball independent of other supporting contact with the rotor, and a spindle in thrust contact with the ball at a position axially opposite from said member, said spindle having an end recess for self-centering engagement with the ball.

6. In a governor the combination comprising a rotor, centrifugal weights carried by the rotor, a thrust bearing ball disposed in the axis of rotor rotation and maintained in such axial position by annular guiding contact with a part of the rotor, means establishing a connection between the weights and the ball, a fuel control lever, and a spindle attached at one end to said lever for actuating the latter, the other end of the spindle having a recess for self-centering and universal contact engagement With the ball surface, said rotor having a cylindrical bore of substantially the same diameter as the bearing ball and annularly enclosing the ball while permitting axial movement thereof to establish said annular guiding contact.

'7. A governor comprising a rotor having a cylindrical bore, weights carried by the rotor, a thimble disposed in the bore but out of friction contact with the surface thereof, a spindle projecting axially into the bore and also out of friction contact therewith, and a thrust bearing ball interposed between said thimble and spindle, said ball being of a diameter substantially equal to that of the bore so that the ball may move and guide axially in the bore.

WILLIAM E. SWENSON. 

